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Perspectivas/Occasional Papers • Fall 20066 Ada María Isasi-Díaz, En La Lucha, In the Struggle: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993). For an excellent study of the spiritual lives of animmigrant community, see Daniel G. Groody, Border of Death, Valley of Life: AnImmigrant Journey of Heart and Spirit. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,Inc., 2002.7 Virgilio Elizondo, A God of Incredible Surprises: Jesus of Galilee (New York: Rowman &Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2003), 42.8 Ibid., 41.9 Ismael García, Dignidad: Ethics Through Hispanic Eyes (Nashville: Abingdon 1997),130-31.10 Ismael García, “Ismael García: Speaking of Dignity.” Insights: The Faculty Journal ofAustin <strong>Seminary</strong> 114, no. 1 (1998): 19-23.11 Justo González, Mañana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective (Nashville:Abingdon, 1990), 131-8.12 Westermann, Genesis: A Practical Commentary, 11.13 See González, Mañana, 75-87.14 See Edwin Aponte, “Coritos as Active Symbols in Latino Protestant PopularReligion.” Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology 2, no. 4 (1995): 57-66.15 García, Dignidad, 102-4.16 Virgilio Elizondo, The Future is Mestizo: Life Where Cultures Meet (Bloomington, IN:Meyer-Stone Books, 1988), 48-50.17 See, for example, “Credo,” Hispanic Creed, by Justo L. González, in Mil Voces paraCelebrar: Himnario Metodista, (Abingdon, 1996), 70.80We Are Not Your Diversity, We Are the Church!Ecclesiological Reflections from theMarginalized Many 1Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández“A lone sheep cries out:There are more of us than them!The flock keeps grazing.” 2— Martín EspadaAs a U.S. Hispanic Catholic theologian, I take comfort andfind challenge in a description by Luis Rivera-Pagán, ofthat proto-Latino theologian Bartolomé de las Casas:“His was the bitter honor of having many public noisy detractorsand many secret silent admirers, ever since that day...in which hehad the enigmatic intuition of being called to a prophetic vocation.”3 I keep these words in mind as this article raises questionsthat need to be raised by theologians emerging from la comunidadlatina 4 in the U.S. Catholic Church, a community that cannow best be described as a marginalized plurality. I resonate withEspada’s prophetic sheep calling the flock not only to “do themath,” but also to explore the ethical implications of this realidadnueva. 5“Doing the math” involves consideration of the statistics thatprovide insight into the Latina/o presence in the U.S. Catholic81
Perspectivas/Occasional Papers • Fall 2006Perspectivas/Occasional Papers • Fall 2006Church and the pastoral responses of the institutional leadershipto this growing community. Attention to the context of this realidadnueva also entails examination of the pastoral responses ofthe church in terms of the understanding of diversity that implicitlyguides decisions impacting ministry with la comunidad latina.<strong>Theological</strong> reflection on diversity is necessary. Three loci,namely difference, commonality, and hybridity, emerge as distinctsources for such reflection.Contextual HorizonsOrlando Espín reminds us that any theology of grace isdependent on the daily lived experience of the theologian andhis/her local community, 6 in other words, our first ethical responsibilityis to acknowledge and recognize that each of our vidascotidianas impact and influence our individual methodologies,foundations and starting points for reflection. “[L]o cotidianomakes social location explicit for it is the context of the person inrelation to physical space, ethnic space, social space.” 7 Theologiesthat emerge from U.S. Latina/o perspectives bear an integritymarked by an openness to admit that our perspectives are situatedand engaged, in other words to do theology latinamente is toengage de conjunto. 8Disembodied theologies result when we neglect to take intoaccount the social contexts and lived experiences that shape ourtheological lenses, as well as those of our colleagues and predecessorsin the academy and in the church, and the communities towhom we are accountable. To take this impact seriously does notmean we make our stories normative, but it does challenge temptationsto universalize particular theologians or schools of thoughtas though they somehow transcend particularity. In many waysall theologies are contextual and to a degree autobiographical.Miguel Díaz reflects this in how he frames his conversation with82Karl Rahner, appropriately titled: On Being Human: U.S. Hispanicand Rahnerian Perspectives. Díaz notes:[M]y aim is to pave the way into an analogical appreciationof these two distinct but interrelated Catholic theologicalanthropologies, and their respective contexts.Whenever appropriate as a result of the ensuing conversation,challenge and critique will be carried outfrom the contextual horizon of each conversationalpartner. In so doing, we hope to avoid falling into theerror of what Raúl Fornet-Betancourt ...has characterizedas turning a specific categorical world into thecenter and horizon by which other worlds are acceptedand understood.” 9What are the contextual horizons out of which U.S. HispanicCatholic theologians reflect and write? The numbers indicate thatthe varied communities of people counted and included under thepolitically and socially charged umbrella terms of Hispanicand/or Latina/o constitute the fastest growing minority in theUnited States and the largest community in the U.S. CatholicChurch. According to the figures quoted and used by the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops, approximately 39%, or 25 millionof the nation’s 67.3 million U.S. Catholics are Hispanic. 1 0Nationally, as well as in the Catholic church, the Latina/o populationis characterized by its relative youth, with Hispanics comprising41% of all Catholics under age 30, and 44% of childrenunder 10.While 71% of U.S. Catholic population growth since 1960 isattributable to la comunidad latina, 12 the number of CatholicHispanic theologians has not proportionately kept pace with thisreality and the face of ecclesial leadership fails to reflect what isnot only the future of the church, but the present as well.Currently less than 10% of the nation’s bishops are Latinos; thus83
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